


Oath of the Stormcaller

by ruff_ethereal



Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: And at some point get hit on by a super creep, F/F, Gaming, Hina and Moca do their own thing in the sidelines, MMORPGs, Sayo and Tsugumi play NFO together, So fair warning for that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-08-14 02:17:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20184607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruff_ethereal/pseuds/ruff_ethereal
Summary: At Ako and Rinko's suggestion, Sayo convinces Tsugumi to go on a "Digi-Date" with her in Neo Fantasy Online.





	Oath of the Stormcaller

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize for possibly not getting these characters correctly.
> 
> Warning for creepy dudes in MMOs trying to hit on girls.

“Sayo-san, help!” Tsugumi cried.

Too busy dealing with a wandering merchant, Sayo only noticed when it was far, _far_ too late. Her eyes widened, she immediately dropped everything, ignoring the merchant’s protests as she ran towards Tsugumi as quickly as she could.

A giant boar did the same, red eyes glowing ominously, foul breath spewing out of its maw as it thundered across the ground.

There was no hope for Tsugumi to fight against that thing. There was no hope for her to run away from it, not at the speeds it was capable of. The only way she was surviving if Sayo made it in time to distract it, and buy her precious time to escape.

Sayo pulled her guitar from her back and started playing, magical lightning coursing up and down her fingers and hands, before shooting down to her legs. With a quick riff, she flew across the field, leaving sparks and singed grass in her wake.

The boar was aware of her now, but still, it chased after Tsugumi, determined to get her.

Sayo’s fingers danced on her strings once more, charging magic for a second flight. She knew could intercept it _just _before it was in range to attack Tsugumi, discharge so many volts into the monster that it would completely forget about Tsugumi, and focus all its attention on Sayo instead. She just had to time it perfectly, wait till she was just at the perfect position…

… Then the giant boar reared back and roared, paralyzing them both in fear.

Sayo could only watch in horror as the power gathered in her hands discharged harmlessly into the air, Tsugumi panicked and frantically asked why she couldn’t move.

The boar reared its head, thrust its tusks at her, and killed her instantly.

Sayo watched as Tsugumi’s body fell limp on the ground, not even bothering to look at the giant boar now thundering towards her, her second meal of the hour—it was far too late for her run now, too.

The boar trampled her underfoot, Sayo’s vision went dark instantly…

… A window popped up soon after:

**You are Dead**  
* Revive Here (100 Gold)  
* Revive at Nearest Safe Point

“What should we do, Sayo-san?” Tsugumi asked.

Sayo sighed. “Revive at Nearest Safe Point, Hazawa-san. The boar will just kill us again instantly if you revive here, and you’ll have wasted your money,” she said as she clicked the second button.

Tsugumi nodded, and did the same.

Soon both of their avatars were back in Departure Village, at the base of the Fountain of Life. Sayo and Tsugumi moved out of the crowds of avatars that crowded around it, to an empty place where her chat box wouldn’t constantly scroll from spam, advertisements, and beginner questions.

“Uwaa… I’m so sorry, Sayo-san,” Tsugumi said, making a _dogeza _emoticon.

“It’s alright, Hazawa-san.” Sayo said. “You’re just starting the game and gaming in general, you’ll inevitably make mistakes.”

“But I got us BOTH killed this time!” Tsugumi said. “Didn’t you say you’re so powerful, you’re pretty much unkillable?”

“If I was not rallied down to your level, then yes, I would be.” Sayo said. “As of now, many of my skills and the special effects of my gear aren’t available, or aren’t activated, therefore I’m much weaker and vulnerable.”

“Do you think you we should stop this ‘rallying’ then?” Tsugumi asked. “It feels like things would go a lot faster and easier without it.”

“No, I really would rather not, Hazawa-san.” Sayo replied. “The areas around Departure Village are meant to be enjoyed as low-level characters without much in the way of skills, equipment, and upgrades, I don’t want to ruin the experience for you.”

“But I just worry that I’m wasting your time, forcing you to babysit me...” Tsugumi said.

“You are not wasting my time, Hazawa-san.” Sayo said quickly. “I have been enjoying every moment we’ve had playing NFO together, I swear!”

“Are you sure?” Tsugumi asked.

“Moca-chan thinks you wouldn’t be here talking in-game otherwise.” Moca butted in.

“We’re back by the way, Onee-chan!” Hina added.

Sayo turned to face Moca and Hina’s avatars, in real life her jaw dropped.

“Liking our new gear?” Moca asked with a cat smile emoticon.

“Where did you get those?!” Sayo yelled as she clicked and inspected both of Moca and Hina’s new equipment.

“Is something wrong, Sayo-san?” Tsugumi asked.

Sayo sighed as she saw the proof before her. “Put simply, they’re at MUCH higher levels than they should be for someone who just started the game today, with equipment they shouldn’t have yet, too.”

Tsugumi’s eyes widened. “Moca-chan, did you cheat?!”

Moca made a fuming emoticon. “Moca-chan doesn’t cheat.”

“Then how do you explain all this?” Sayo asked, her eyes narrowing in the real world, cursor hovering over the report button on Moca.

“Oh, that’s easy: we just had some nice people help us through the dungeons and level us up super zappin’ fast!” Hina replied. “They even gave us the spare gear they don’t need, too, and it was almost all the boppin’ rare stuff!”

“How…?” Sayo asked.

“We told them we were veterans making alt characters just for fun.” Moca replied. “No one thought twice about inviting us into parties with their own alts.”

“But didn’t anyone notice that you were both completely new to the game?” Tsugumi asked. “You must have had a hard time keeping up.”

“Actually no, no one did, and we had a super boppin’ time, too!” Hina replied. “I’ve got _ton__s_ of invites right now to all kinds of guilds, they said they could _really _use a player like me around all the time.”

“Moca-_chan,_ too.” Moca said, making a smug smiling emoticon.

“You’re kidding.” Sayo said.

Moca made a shrugging emoticon. “What can we say? We’re just geniuses like that.”

Sayo resisted the urge to get out of her chair, find out where Hina and Moca were playing, and yell at them both in person.

“But was that really okay?” Tsugumi asked. “You two must have skipped so many things you’re supposed to do.”

“Boring stuff, you mean.” Moca said. “We’re here to have fun, right? What’s wrong with skipping to the good parts as quickly as we can?”

“Because that’s not how the developers intended you to play the game.” Sayo countered.

“Then they made a really, _really _bad game.” Hina said. “Why are we supposed to work for our fun, if games are supposed to help us relax? That doesn’t sound very boppin’, honestly.”

Sayo started typing furiously, about how NFO’s intended leveling experience was a vital part of getting the most enjoyment from the game, chief among them the sense of pride and accomplishment of gradually growing stronger and stronger, running away from certain mobs one time then actively hunting them down with another, and not to mention how much good story content and fun experiences Hina and Moca were missing out on, and would effectively trivialize because of how grossly over-leveled, spoiled, and without important context they would be if they ever got around to doing them now…

… But she never got to send it as Moca said, “Oh, gotta go: our queue just popped.”

“Your what just what now?” Tsugumi asked.

“It’s a line for dungeons—we promised we’d run some with the people who helped us earlier.” Hina said. “GTG, TTYL!”

And with that, Moca and Hina’s avatars both disappeared.

Sayo sighed heavily, enough for Tsugumi to hear over her headphones and the in-game music. She peered past the divider separating their computers, and asked, “Are you alright, Sayo-san?” After a brief pause, she added, “Are _they _going to be alright?”

“No, and for their and the rest of their group’s sake, I certainly hope so.” Sayo muttered. “Let’s just get ready to go back to questing, please, Hazawa-san.”

Tsugumi looked unconvinced, but nodded. “Okay, Sayo-san.”

“Oh, and Hazawa-san?” Sayo asked in-game. “New rule: let’s both completely stop if ever we have to buy or sell to a merchant outside of a safe zone.”

“Can do, Sayo-san.” Tsugumi said, making a smile emoticon.

Sayo blushed, smiled, before she made for the nearest vendor—she still had a lot of vendor trash and useless equipment clogging up her bags, as did Tsugumi.

As Tsugumi fretted and tried to figure out which items to keep and which items to sell all on her own, Sayo’s thoughts drifted to all her other usual, much more profitable activities in NFO, how much more gold, crafting materials, and other valuable items she could get, especially since she was almost eligible for her fourth and final job advancement, Tempest.

Should she have not asked Tsugumi out on this “Game-Date” after all…?

“Phew! All done, Sayo-san! Where are we going next?” Tsugumi asked.

Then Sayo realized that no amount of in-game gold, Primal Echoes, or Shards of Creation would ever be worth spending time with Tsugumi.

“I think we should go back to the Stomping Grounds.” Sayo said. “You still haven’t finished the quest chain there, and you can get a very useful weapon at the end of it.”

“Ehhh?!” Tsugumi cried. “But isn’t the boss that just killed us still there?!”

“Most probably, yes,” Sayo said. “But don’t worry: I’ll keep an eye out for it and warn you if you’re getting to close. I promised to keep you safe, after all.”

“Thank you, Sayo-san. And I promise I’ll try not to get us both killed again.” Tsugumi said, with a smiling emoticon.

With that, Sayo and Tsugumi begin their trek back to the Stomping Grounds.

* * *

In a regular fight, Sayo would be constantly dashing across the battlefield, fingers flying all over the keyboard, making sure that she attracted the ire of and was electrocuting every single monster in the area, keep their attention on her and her alone, while keeping her allies safe and buffed.

Right now, however, Sayo was doing nearly the exact opposite: pointedly staying in exactly one spot, stopping her twitching fingers from flying to and pressing buttons that would do absolutely nothing right now, and making sure that she attracted and maintained the attention of exactly _one _monster in the area, that her wide-reaching skills _wouldn’t _hit anything else.

As a consequence, Sayo barely did any damage to the Rampaging Boar before her, each swing of her lightning blade only keeping it angry at her, and not the threat that was actually, slowly killing it:

Tsugumi, her bow, and her infinite supply of basic arrows.

There was a part of Sayo that was wondering if she should ask Tsugumi to switch to using Dual Blades: it would have been far easier to keep track of monster movements and aggro ranges if they were close together, Tsugumi wouldn’t have to constantly struggle with the minimum ranges for some of her skills, and even at this level she could deal far more damage, far more quickly at close range, with a relatively simpler skill rotation, to boot.

Then Sayo remembered part of the conversation they’d had at the Hazawa Cafe, when they were getting the basics out of way so they could spend as much time as possible actually playing the game:

“Uwaaa, there’s so many jobs to choose from!” Tsugumi said as she looked at the two-page diagram of all of NFO’s character classes, printed in Sayo’s edition of the strategy guide.

“The diversity of choice is one of the biggest appeals of NFO,” Sayo explained. “There’s so many synergies, tactics, and complements between them all, it’s hard to find any job that can’t be significantly useful in some way.”

“But how do I choose which one to play…?” Tsugumi groaned. “I really don’t want to waste your time by picking something that won’t work well with your character...”

“Don’t worry about that, Hazawa-san,” Sayo said. “My maximizing and theory crafting is for the high-level content, with veterans players; we will not even come close to doing anything like that on our date, and will only have to worry about that if you choose to play it in the long run like myself.

“Try focusing on the first line of starter classes, and don’t worry about any of the advancements beyond.”

Tsugumi nodded. “There’s still five of them, though… what’s a good one to start with, in general?”

“You can never go wrong with Fighter,” Sayo replied. “They’re meant to be extremely simple to use, with very generous defense and health stats, and their more complex tactics and mechanics only begin to show up on 2nd jobs and beyond.”

Tsugumi nodded, and read the short blurb beside them. “Oh, so they fight monsters up close?”

“Almost exclusively,” Sayo replied. “If ever they have a ranged skill or attack, it’s almost always meant to get into melee range, such as pulling their target to them.”

“Oh...” Tsugumi said, nodding.

“Is there something the matter, Hazawa-san?” Sayo asked.

“Well”--Tsugumi sighed--”this is _really _silly…”

“Please, you can tell me, Hazawa-san,” Sayo said, reaching out and slowly putting her hand over Tsugumi’s.

The both of them blushed. “Well…” Tsugumi started, “I know they’re not real, and they’re just images on a screen, but I would really like it if I could fight the monsters as far as possible—in the back-line, like Ako-san and Rinko-san usually are.

“Some of them are _really _scary...” she mumbled.

“Understood.” Sayo said. “I’ll try to think of a ranged class for you,” she said, before she started focusing intensely at the chart. “Hmm… the only real choice you have would be a Rogue using bows, Hazawa-san. I’m pretty sure being a mage will be too complicated for a newbie much like yourself, and it would be unwise to have no DPS jobs if it’s just going to be the two of us adventuring, for the most part.”

“Rogue using bows it is!” Tsugumi said, nodding. “I promise I’ll be the best one I can be for you, Sayo-san!” she said, before she shot Sayo a radiant smile.

Just like then, Sayo found herself stunned, half-blinded and half-overwhelmed by the dramatic swelling of butterflies inside her gut from the brilliant sight before her. Unlike then, however, the distraction led to Sayo’s digital self being rammed in the stomach and sent flying.

Sayo snapped back to the present, reflexively pushing her hotkey for her recovery skill, before she remembered she didn’t _have _one at this level. She watched the Rampaging Boar snort and squeal, stomping its hooves about as it prepared to trample the helpless Sayo…

… Then an arrow with a blunt, weighted head smashed into its head, stunning it long enough for Sayo to get back up on her feet normally.

_“Hawk Shot!”_

A magic hawk dove from the sky, and finished the boar off. Tsugumi rushed to Sayo’s side, not even bothering to loot the corpse as she asked, “Are you alright, Sayo-san?!”

Sayo checked her health and her status bars—all well within the green, and no debuffs to speak of. “I’m alright, Hazawa-san. Sorry for losing my focus back there.”

Tsugumi sighed. “I’m so sorry for causing it! You must be super bored, having to fight all these beginner monsters. I can stop playing and you can go join the others, if you want to.”

Sayo’s eyes widened. She started furiously typing at a speed that rivaled Rinko, talking about how much she still enjoyed playing with Tsugumi, again reminding her that she had accepted that the content she would face would be far slower and simpler than what she was used to, and how she absolutely did _not _blame Tsugumi for her lapse in concentration, and they should most _definitely _continue questing as a duo…

“Maybe you two ladies just need a pro DPS on your party to help speed things up.”

… But she never sent it, as a newcomer came and spoke up from out of the blue.

Sayo looked at their username and avatar—a name she did not recognize, and most definitely a high-level player, on their 3rd job like Sayo. By his dual blades and the sheer amount of _literal _edges all over his armour, he was undeniably a Shadowblade.

Sayo deleted the paragraph she’d already wrote, and instead said, “Sorry, we’re a two-person adventuring party. Thank you for the offer, but we will have to decline.”

“Maybe we should reconsider, Sayo-san.” Tsugumi said. “You said that NFO’s all about teaming up and having fun with others, right?”

“Exactly!” the Shadowblade said. “And besides that, a couple of ladies like could always do with the company of a dashing and experienced man like myself, right?” he continued, with a winking emoticon.

Tsugumi paused, then said, “On second thought, I’m with Sayo-san: thank you, but we’ll pass.”

“Are you _really _sure?” the Shadowblade said. “I’m a veteran at this game, and I swear I can kill any monster you need for your quests in no time, field bosses included. You’ll be clearing quests, gaining rewards, and earning levels so fast, you’ll be out of this newbie zone and into the _real _game in no time. I’ll be right by your sides the whole time, of course~”

Again, another winking emotion.

“We are sure we don’t want your help.” Sayo said, narrowing her eyes. “Please leave us alone, before we have to report you for harassment,” she said as she did just that, tabbing out for a moment to attach a screenshot of her chat log.

“How rude!” the Shadowblade said. “You just hurt my feelings, you know.”

“To be fair, it’s also rude to force your help on someone who’s clearly told you twice now that we don’t want it.”

“Not even if you two clearly need a pro on your side?” the Shadowblade countered. “I mean you’re a Stormcaller and a bow Rogue, and you’re still taking targets one at a time. Are you _sure _you’re not newbies~?” he said with a teasing emoticon.

Sayo should have just muted him right there and then, PM’d Tsugumi and walked her through how to do the same. But there was something inside her that just snapped in that moment, convinced her that it wasn’t enough to just ignore him, and wait for him to leave when he finally lost interest.

On the other computer, Tsugumi was fumbling through the in-game manual, trying to figure out whether it was worth learning how the PM system worked in NFO or just talking to Sayo in the public “Say” channel like she had been doing. She was startled as a horn suddenly sounded, she closed the manual found herself temporarily kicked out of Sayo’s party, a ring of light appearing on the ground where there was none before.

“Sayo-san?” Tsugumi asked as she watched Sayo and the Shadowblade move to opposite sides of the arena, she was forcibly teleported to the side. “What’s going on?”

“Onee-chan’s getting into a duel with that guy, Tsugu-chan!” Hina said as she and Moca walked up. “Go Onee-chan! Kick his ass!” she added, with the cheering emoticons for emphasis.

“Yeah, fight for your wife!” Moca added.

“Whaaaatt?!?!??!” Tsugumi asked, panicking now.

With a second horn, the duel began.

The Shadowblade pounced at Sayo!

_Fzzt!_

He crashed against Sayo’s shield, she sent him flying back with a thunderous explosion.

The Shadowblade flipped and recovered in mid-air, landing smoothly on the ground. Auras of white-blue electricity and crimson red energy began to gather around both, as the Shadowblade realized he was in for a longer fight than he’d thought.

“Why didn’t you two do anything to stop him if you were here the whole time?!” Tsugumi yelled as she and the others stood on the backlines. “We could have driven him away if there were all four of us telling him to go!”

“We didn’t want to ruin Sayo-chan’s chance to defend your honour.” Moca hummed.

“I’m pretty sure Onee-chan would have challenged him to a duel, anyway, he was being a super mega creep.” Hina said.

Tsugumi sighed. “Do you think Sayo-san is going to win, at least?”

“HAHAHAHAHAH!” Moca said. “No.”

Tsugumi blinked. “What?”

The Shadowblade moved in to strike, Sayo thrust her lightning sword it into the air!

_Crack!_

A bolt shot down from the sky, lodged itself into the ground and began to electrocute everything around it, Sayo included; the Shadowblade slowed down as the electricity coursed through his body, while Sayo became even faster.

The Shadowblade lunged with one sword, Sayo raised her shield and blocked it. Red energy lashed out from the tip and harmed her still, but it was just a scratch. The Shadowblade started slashing and striking like a whirlwind, Sayo slipped in quick thrusts and light stabs in return.

The Shadowblade jumped, lashing out with furious kicks. Sayo raised her shield, until it shattered, the last strikes sent her staggering back.

A spike of red energy pooled around her feet, then launched her into the air! The Shadowblade reared his legs, and leaped after her.

Sayo turned into a cloud of sparks, the Shadowblade crashed down on nothing but empty air. Sayo reappeared on the other side of the arena, frantically playing her guitar and recharging her magic.

“… So in short, Onee-chan is best in a team fight and is worst off fighting single targets, and her opponent is the exact opposite.” Hina finished.

“And you’re _sure _she’s going to lose?” Tsugumi asked.

“Assuming they’re both of similar skill level, yeah, she’s going down eventually,” Moca said. “But who really knows: this is PvP; the human element is what makes it unpredictable and exciting.”

Tsugumi nodded. “Go Sayo-san!” she yelled. “You’re going to win this, I’m sure of it!” she said, adding several cheering emoticons.

“_Dark Reunion!”_ the Shadowblade cried.

The crimson red energy overflowed from his right hand and became a demonic figure above him, mirroring his movements as he rushed towards Sayo.

Sayo raised her guitar skyward, lightning striking her over and over again as she played an impossibly fast solo.

The Shadowblade and his demon began to tear into her, piercing through her defenses, stealing the health and magic Sayo was regaining, but still, she kept playing until--

“_Thunder Crescendo!”_

The electricity coursing through Sayo exploded, bolts flying everywhere and scorching the earth black, the remainder gathering in Sayo’s sword-hand, becoming an impossibly large blade of pure, crackling lightning.

Then, she brought it down on her opponent.

“Woah! Is Sayo-san going to win now?” Tsugumi asked.

“Not even close.” Moca replied.

The Shadowblade made several clones of himself, all of them getting totally vaporized in an instant, he himself getting badly burned and shocked. With over half-health remaining, however, he prepared to pounce again...

“Well, looks like Onee-chan and him are going to be taking a really long time with this duel,” Hina said as Sayo and the Shadowblade began to reuse the same moves and tactics at the start of the fight. “Do you want to do anything else while we wait, Tsugu-chan?”

“No, I want to stay here and cheer on Sayo-san.” Tsugumi said. “I want to be here when she wins, too.”

“If she wins.” Moca corrected. “Are you really sure about that?”

“Yes.” Tsugumi said. “Have fun with whatever you two decide to do.”

“Alright.” Moca said. “Ready to go, Hina-chan?”

“Mm-mmm!” Hina said, making the okay sign.

The two of them soon disappeared once more, Tsugumi stayed on the sidelines, watching the sparks literally fly, typing encouragement and picking out the encouraging and cheering emoticons… and a minute and a half later, she was bored nearly to tears, wondering if she should beg Sayo to forfeit the match so they could move on to better things, or keep on cheering until someone finally gave.

Thankfully, she didn’t have to make the decision.

“Agh! Screw this!” the Shadowblade cried, before he ran all the way out of the arena, till he was well out of bounds and instantly disqualified.

Sayo watched him go, fingers still twitching over her keyboard, her next possible actions still queued in her mind, until she finally realized that she had won.

“Sayo-san!” Tsugumi cried. “You won! Are you alright?”

“Yes.” Sayo said, taking a moment to rehydrate and snack on a candy bar, bask in the glow of a hard won fight.

“Oh thank goodness!” Tsugumi said, before she yelled, “Don’t ever just decide to get in a fight like that ever again, do you hear me?!”

The victory glow died immediately, Sayo flinched.

“We could have just ignored him until he left, Sayo-san!” Tsugumi continued. “You didn’t have to jump into a duel like that without even telling me! I’m typing this all out specifically because I don’t want to yell at you in the middle of this internet cafe with all these people around!”

In real life, Sayo had shrunk into her seat; she sheepishly put down her water and food, and typed, “Please forgive me, Hazawa-san. I let my temper get the best of me and made a very stupid decision.”

Tsugumi huffed. “Good. I’m happy to see that you made a mistake and you’re sorry for it. By the way, I would like to make up another new rule for our adventuring, Sayo-san.”

“What is it, Hazawa-san?” Sayo asked.

“If you’re going to challenge someone to a fight, we do it together, as a duo or as a team with others.” Tsugumi said. “I honestly appreciate that you wanted to protect me from that creep, Sayo, but I also want to protect you, too.”

Sayo choked on the water she was sipping. She quickly wiped it up and made sure nothing landed on the keyboard, before she quickly typed, “I can abide by that, Hazawa-san.”

“Thank you.” Tsugumi said. “Now, shall we go back to hunting? It looks like I still have 3 more Rampaging Boars to go.”

“Let’s.” Sayo said, before they continued their adventure.


End file.
